


Act 1, scene 5

by gingerfic



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Never Met, Boys Kissing, Kissing, Klaine, Multi, NYADA, References to Shakespeare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-07 21:42:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4278954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingerfic/pseuds/gingerfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU in which Kurt and Blaine are NYADA students in the same acting class but haven’t ever talked to each other until they are assigned to be scene partners. It’s a kissing scene. They might have to practice.</p><p>Thanks to <a href="http://alwaysfallingforanidea.tumblr.com/">alwaysfallingforanidea</a> for being my lovely beta, for telling me when things dragged or got distracting, and for reminding me that "we should practice" belongs in every Klaine first kiss scene. :)</p><p>Warning for a lack of much plot. The whole point is to get into all of the lovely kissing ideas from <a href="http://ancientgleek-youngatheart.tumblr.com/post/123129327179/fictional-kiss-things-that-end-me">this tumblr post</a><br/>The title is a reference to the scene that they perform. It’s famous. You’ll probably recognize when you read it it if you don’t already.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Blaine closed his notebook, put it into his satchel, and crossed the room to drop into a chair next to the slender, lovely classmate who had just been assigned to be his scene partner.

“Hi, I’m Blaine.”

A pale hand extended towards him. “Kurt.”

“Um, so, I guess we’re partners for this one.”

“Yes,” Kurt smiled.

“At least he let us do this assignment with each other. I think it would have been more awkward to do this assignment with a girl…”

Kurt shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s all acting anyway, right?”

“Yeah, but I’d feel weird about kissing a girl. I mean, I never have...”

Kurt’s eyebrows shot up questioningly.

“Boys school,” Blaine clarified.

“Ah,” Kurt nodded. Then he laughed, high and musical. “Well, it’s not that bad.”

“Oh, are you bi?” Blaine blurted. Kurt’s jaw dropped and he sucked in a breath before Blaine continued “I’m sorry, that was completely inappropriate for me to ask. It doesn’t matter. It’s none of my--”

Kurt was laughing harder now, and it took him a moment to collect himself before he wheezed “no, just a high school experimental phase. I’m definitely, totally, gay.”

“Oh,” Blaine nodded, staring at his own knees and hoping that his blush didn’t show too much. “Um, me too.”

“Well, there we go,” Kurt said. “The gay guys get to be partners with each other for the kissing scene assignment. Perfect.”

They stared at each other for a moment. _I’m going to kiss him,_ Blaine thought. _I mean, I have to kiss him, for the scene, but, god! Look at those lips! Such a nice pink, and they look so soft and--_

“Blaine?” Kurt’s voice brought him back to reality. “Earth to Blaine?”

He shook his head to clear his mind. “Yeah?”

“I think I lost you there for a minute.”

“Sorry…” Blaine swallowed and refocused on Kurt’s eyes. Damn. Those were beautiful eyes too.

“I was just saying, we should exchange numbers so we can plan a rehearsal schedule.” Kurt held out his phone.

“Oh, sure, yeah. That’s a good idea.” Blaine flipped over the flap on his bag and reached inside to pull out his own phone to give to Kurt.

“Thanks,” Kurt said cheerily with a glance across the room. “I really have to go now, my roommate is coming this way and she knows how to make my life miserable if I keep her waiting.”

Blaine glanced up to see a short, dark-haired woman marching intently in their direction. “Right, ok, well we have two weeks to pull this thing together. Can we meet tomorrow to pick a scene so we can start learning our lines?”

“Sounds good,” Kurt replied as he stood. “I’ll text you!” he waved his phone.

“Kurt! Kurt!” the girl’s voice was slightly shrill as she dropped it into a hiss. “Did you see who my scene partner is?!”

“Let’s get to lunch, Rachel, and you can tell me all about it.” Kurt proffered his elbow and the two of them left the room.

Blaine sat and watched them go. The rest of the students filed out, and even a few new students started filing in before he managed to get to his feet and leave the room.

 _It’s just a scene for class,_ he reminded himself. _We’re acting out a scene that happens to include a kiss. We’re actors. We do this. It’s no big deal._

But Blaine knew that the heat in his belly and the tingling in his ears couldn’t hear him.

 

* * *

 

“ _Ohmygod_ Kurt, your scene partner is so cute!” Rachel gushed toward the end of lunch, after having explained at great length why she was so excited about being partnered with some guy named Brody. Kurt had seen him in class but hadn’t ever met him. Rachel, apparently, had been crushing on him all semester.

“I mean, it’s probably karma, or a sign or something, right? That we got partnered for this assignment?”

“I’m pretty sure that Mr. Peterson just went through the slips we turned in and randomly assigned straights with straights and gays with gays,” Kurt informed her in a bored tone as he picked at the last bits of his salad. “It’s only beginning acting. I’m sure that in intermediate acting we’ll be asked to stretch ourselves and kiss girls.”

“Do you really think so?” Rachel set her chin in her palm and cocked her head to the side. “I’ve never kissed a girl. I probably should, to make sure I’m well-rounded as an actress.” She was staring at her plate but suddenly glanced up at Kurt. “Should we practice? I mean,” she gestured back and forth, “with each other?”

“I’m sure that’s not necessary, Rachel.”

“But--”

“You already know how to kiss boys, I’m not a girl, and I’m not concerned about this.”

“No, but Kurt, at least half of the leading men on Broadway are gay. If I’m going to be on Broadway maybe I need to practice kissing gay men.”

Kurt gathered up his things and stood to leave. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”

“Kurt, perfecting my method is important!”

He leaned down, setting his hand flat on the table so that he was nearly nose-to-nose with her. “I need to go to class, Rachel. And I adore you, but if you ever suggest that again I may reconsider that decision.” He stood up and straightened his jacket. “I’ll see you tonight, ok?”

She stuck out her lip in an exaggerated pouty face. “Fine. I’ll have to find some other pretty gay man to kiss.”

“Ha!” he called over his shoulder as he strode away.

 

* * *

 

“So, where shall we start?” Blaine asked the next afternoon as he settled into a chair across the tiny table from Kurt at the campus coffee shop.

“Well, we could start by deciding if we want to go with a scene that’s actually written to be two men, or if we want to gender-bend from the source,” Kurt mused, scrolling through his phone. “I mean, there are some good gay scenes, but some of the most famous ones or classic ones are straight, so maybe that would be easier to find a script or whatever.” He shrugged.

“It only has to be a one minute scene, right?” Blaine scanned down the page where he had written notes about the assignment. “Yeah, one minute long, pulled from a real play (can’t write an original scene), and has to include a kiss. Those were the only parameters.”

“Did he specify how much of it had to be talking and how much kissing?”

Blaine almost choked, but Kurt was still staring at his phone, his thumb sliding up the screen.

“I mean,” Kurt continued, “does it matter if it’s fifty nine seconds of talking with a little peck at the end, or does he want us to make-out with a few moaned lines along the way…” Kurt waved his hand in the air in some indefinable gesture. “There’s a huge variety of what is available script-wise, so maybe we should start our selection process by narrowing down what kind of scene we want to do?” He looked up and met Blaine’s frozen gaze.

“Uh, maybe something in the middle?” Blaine stammered.

Kurt nodded. “Ok. That works.” He went back to his phone for a moment before looking up again with a grin. “Is the one minute a minimum or a limit, do you think?”

“Um, I think it’s both,” Blaine managed, wondering where Kurt was going with this. “It usually is when we do monologues…”

“Right,” Kurt nodded. “So that rules out musical numbers. Ok.”

“Oh!”

Kurt glanced up. “ _Rent_ is one of my favorite plays,” he clarified. “And the _I’ll Cover You_ scene is amazing.”

“Oh, right.”

“Oh god, I’m sorry, without that context, all the things I just said…” Kurt was turning red, and it was kind of adorable. “You’re going to think I’m some--”

“No, no,” Blaine stopped him, grinning again. “It’s fine. I wasn’t sure what you were getting at, but it’s ok. We both know we’re here for a kissing scene, we might as well be straightforward about what we mean by that.”

“Right,” Kurt looked relieved. “Ok, so, more than a peck, less than making out, and no singing.”

“Too bad,” Blaine added.

“What?” Kurt’s head snapped up.

“Singing could have been fun, you’ve got to be, what, a--”

“Oh!” Kurt’s entire posture relaxed again. “I’m a countertenor, yes.”

Blaine grinned. “We’ll have to sing sometime, I mean, if you’d like--”

“It sounds fun,” Kurt assured him. “But right now we should get back to work.”

* * *

 

After a heated debate about the merits of new Broadway versus old classics, they finally settled on the most classic of classic kissing scenes: _Romeo and Juliet_.

“The script is easy to find, the lines are familiar so they’ll be easy to learn,” Blaine was ticking reasons off on his fingers. “Plus there are two kisses, which is that middle ground we decided on, right?” He looked at Kurt for confirmation.

“Yes, that’s what we decided.”

“Ok.” Blaine scribbled something in his notebook.

“Oh look, I found it right here.” Kurt held up his phone. “Do you want to run lines a couple of times right now?”

“Sure,” Blaine agreed, setting down his notebook and grabbing his phone so he could find the script as well. “Do you have a preference on which part?”

Kurt had a momentary flashback to high school and his failed attempt to get the role of Tony in _West Side Story_. Even Rachel had laughed at him. But Blaine had really wanted to do this scene and Kurt had to agree that it was a good one, even though… Well maybe this could be a chance for redemption!

“If you don’t mind, can I do Romeo?”

“Sure,” Blaine seemed unphased by the decision. “I’m fine with Juliet. She’s sort of the initiator here anyway, with the teasing and everything.”

“Oh I don’t know about that,” Kurt took on a teasing tone of his own. “I think it’s more balanced than that…”

“Gender roles schmender roles!” Blaine proclaimed.

Kurt nodded in agreement and took on an affected tone. “Shall we begin then, good sir?”

Blaine cleared his throat and nodded, propping his phone up on the table in front of him for easy reading.

Kurt began reading simply, just pronouncing the words without any real inflection or emotion. This was just running lines, he’d add in the acting parts later as they started really building the scene.

“If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.” Kurt glanced up at Blaine expectantly.

* * *

 

Blaine picked up his cue without missing a beat. “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this, for saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.” Blaine held out his hand automatically. Hey, it was in the script!

Kurt glanced up from his phone at the movement. Blaine tipped his head toward his waiting hand. Kurt grinned and put his palm up to meet Blaine’s. If this were anywhere other than NYADA campus they would probably be getting some weird looks from the other coffee shop patrons, but as it was nobody seemed to notice that the guys at table six had switched into Shakespearean dialogue.

“Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?”

Blaine looked away melodramatically. “Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.”

“O,” Kurt’s pink lips rounded and, god, Blaine needed to not look at them. He stared at the tiny text on his phone.

“Then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do,” Kurt continued. “They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”

Blaine tried to be as casual as Kurt seemed to be. “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.”

“Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take!” Kurt lifted his chin and blew an exaggerated air kiss to Blaine and continued without even a pause. “Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.”

Blaine gasped in feigned shock. “Then have my lips the sin that they have took.” He leaned in and looked Kurt in the face, fighting to keep himself from giggling at how over the top they were both being.

“Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.” Kurt leaned closer too and met Blaine’s gaze with intensity. The script called for the second kiss here, and suddenly Blaine wasn’t sure whether they were ‘only running lines’ or not.

For a long moment they stared at one another. The energy between them had shifted, and Blaine felt himself lifting slightly from his chair, hazel eyes locked on blue as he moved almost imperceptibly closer to Kurt.

_Buzzzzzzzz_

Kurt’s cell phone going off broke the moment, and he sat up rigidly, suddenly very preoccupied with arranging things in his book bag. “I have to go, I’m going to be late to work. Text me tomorrow and we can schedule another rehearsal?”

Blaine just nodded dumbly as he watched Kurt go.

* * *

 

The next rehearsal was worse. Or better, depending how you looked at it.

Last time Kurt had needed to exercise serious levels of self-control to keep himself from just kissing Blaine. He’d specifically said they were just running lines, but then Blaine had looked at him and Kurt had felt fluttery. Then they’d touched hands and Kurt had made himself think about vile things like Ugg boots and animal sweaters in an effort to ignore the fireworks in his fingers. He’d tried to take the humorous route to ease the thick tension between them, but then they’d looked into each others’ eyes and Kurt had almost lost it.

This time they were going to actually kiss, and Kurt wasn’t sure if he’d survive. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door in front of him.

“Hi,” Blaine’s voice was soft as he opened the door.

“Hi,” Kurt tried to sound normal. He glanced around the room, taking in the space. Blaine’s apartment was smaller than the loft, but much newer, and more normal looking. It had walls, for example.

“Thanks for being willing to come here. I was just thinking it might be nicer to rehearse this in a not-so-public place, plus I don’t have a roommate to walk in at awkward moments and get ideas…”

“Absolutely,” Kurt agreed. “This is much nicer than my apartment, and there’s no reason for you to have to come all the way out to Bushwick for a rehearsal when you’re here in walking distance of the school.”

“Well, my father didn’t want me in the dorms,” Blaine offered. “He’s concerned that there are unhealthy influences in college dorms.”

Kurt stifled a smile and tried to make a serious face as he nodded. “Right, as compared to the unhealthy influences on every street corner between here and campus?”

Blaine grinned. “Exactly!”

They stood awkwardly for a moment, alternately looking at each other and avoiding looking at each other until Blaine cleared his throat and gestured to the living room. “So, shall we?”

* * *

 

“Ok, so should we figure out the blocking first and then run it?” Kurt asked as they settled into the couch. Kurt set a script on the coffee table just in case, but it was short enough that they were both pretty much off-book already. “Or do you want to just kind of start going and see what feels, uh, what works?” Kurt was being very professional. Much more professional than Blaine felt right now.

“I like having something planned to at least get started with,” Blaine said. “Then we can adjust it as we go if we need to. Does that work for you?”

Kurt nodded stiffly. “Right, ok, well we’re at a party. Do we want to assume a modern setting?”

“I think that’s best,” Blaine agreed. “We’re already gender-bending the thing, might as well make it modern."

"But we wouldn't change the script, of course," Kurt clarified.

"Of course not, it's classic, plus that would be considered using an original script."

“Oh, right," Kurt agreed. "Well, a modern setting will be easier for costuming anyway."

“Oh, do we have to do costumes for this?” Blaine shifted to face Kurt. He hadn’t remembered anything about costumes.

“Probably not, but I always do costumes. People notice details, and those little touches are good for grades.”

Blaine laughed. “Right, ok. So costumes, um…”

“Black,” Kurt informed him. “Dark wash jeans would be fine too, but a dressy black shirt for sure. I assume you have one.”

“Several.”

Kurt smiled. “God, it’s nice to work with someone who already has a quality wardrobe. Ok, so that’s settled then. Wearing all black is classic. I have a button-down with--”

“Actually, can I make a suggestion?” Blaine was a little hesitant, because Kurt clearly had this all figured out, but since this was a group project he felt like he had a right to say something.

“Sure.” Kurt’s eyes refocused and he looked at Blaine. “What are you thinking?”

“Black is classic, but with two of us, maybe we should do contrasting color shirts? Like blue and red?”

“Russet and navy?” Kurt countered, looking at Blaine with his finger on his chin and pursing his lips. “No, not russet. Burgundy.” He raised the finger into the air and nodded sharply.

“And deep sapphire,” Blaine countered. “If you have it, I mean. It’s just, that would really make your eyes pop and stand-out features are always good for a performance.” He hoped that Kurt would accept this as strictly a performance suggestion, not a come-on.

“I own a couple of things in that shade,” Kurt said slowly, eying Blaine carefully. “And you’re right, that would look really good.”

Blaine grinned.

* * *

 

Kurt had meant to keep this all on point. He couldn’t let the fact that he had a rapidly-growing crush on his scene partner get in the way of being professional. They were going to have to kiss and that was already going to be awkward enough. But already they had gotten off-track planning costumes and the _things_ Blaine kept saying. Did he know what he was doing to Kurt? Probably not, Kurt decided. Blaine was being perfectly normal and reasonable. Right? It was just Kurt’s crush making everything sound like flirting.

“In the classroom we’ll just have a pair of chairs I think?” Blaine said. “Or do we want to do this standing?”

“Standing, probably,” Kurt decided. “It’s a party and they’re just meeting, so I would think they bumped into each other by the snack table or something.”

“Right,” Blaine nodded and wrote something in the margin of the script. “Ok, standing then.” He stood up and looked back at Kurt, obviously waiting.

“Oh, right, ok.” Kurt got to his feet as well. “So you’ll be standing center stage, and I’ll approach like this…” He walked away a few steps and then returned, demonstrating. These details were mundane, but they were delaying his actually having to look Blaine in the face and deal with kissing him, so it was just as well. He wasn't sure how he was going to stay professional when they got to that part, so he was fine with avoiding it by focusing on anything or everything else.

“Which way should I be facing?” Blaine asked. “Should I see you coming or…”  he looked straight at Kurt, and when Kurt met his gaze he held it longer than he should have.

“Uh,” Kurt tried awkwardly. “Maybe eye contact across the room? That would be motivation for me to come over?” As though Kurt needed any motivation to put himself closer to Blaine...but no! He wasn’t going to think about that! He was a professional. It was just a kiss. Or two kisses. Whatever. He could handle it. Like a professional. Which he was.

“Right, good, good, ok…” Blaine scribbled on the script again. “So we see each other, then you come over. The script says you take my hand. How should we…” he held out his hand.

“What if we’re on the dance floor instead, and I come up behind you?” Kurt asked suddenly, and oh god where had _that_ idea come from? But Blaine was already nodding, turning away from Kurt and starting to shift his hips back and forth in a gentle rhythm with his hands extended into the air out to either side.

Kurt took a deep breath and stepped up behind him, falling into the same rolling motion as he slipped his hand along Blaine’s forearm and out to his hand.

“If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this,” he spoke softly because he was so near Blaine’s ear.

Blaine’s fingers clasped tightly, squeezing Kurt’s between them.

“My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss,” Kurt continued quickly, less than an inch from Blaine’s neck...and damn he smelled good. Kurt couldn’t place the cologne but he could tell it was a good one because the cheap stuff never smelled this right on anyone.

Blaine spun under Kurt’s arm, turning to face him and realigning their hands to be palm to palm between them. He looked up at Kurt through his lashes (good lord those lashes!) “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this, for saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.” Blaine hadn’t stopped the slow roll of his hips, and Kurt was getting more than a little distracted by it. It was a good thing this was only rehearsal.

“Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?” Kurt was speaking automatically now, grateful that he had the lines memorized, because Blaine’s face was right there next to his, and he smelled so good, and those honey-flecked eyes, and Kurt’s brain was definitely not working properly anymore.

Blaine smiled “Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.” He turned away, glancing back at Kurt with raised eyebrows. “Does this...?”

Kurt nodded dumbly.

Kurt was screwed. Blaine had just said ‘lips’ and Kurt had looked at Blaine’s soft, round lips and now he was definitely, totally, screwed. He heard the huskiness in his voice as he spoke again. “O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.” He reached his arms around Blaine again, pressing Blaine’s hands together between his own like a parent teaching a child to pray, and now his chest was against Blaine’s back and he could feel his heart pounding and he wondered if Blaine could feel it too.

* * *

 

Blaine had turned away because if he kept looking at Kurt like that he wasn’t going to be able to remember any lines, let alone get through this rehearsal. _Keep it together, Blaine,_ he told himself. _Be professional. Actors kiss other actors every day. It’s no big deal._

But then Kurt was closing in behind him, and his arms were around Blaine, and his hands around Blaine’s hands, and Blaine froze.

 _This is why we practice our lines so much,_ he thought as he heard himself deliver Juliet’s next line. “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.”

Kurt’s voice was low, slower than before and a little gruff when he replied. Blaine actually shivered when Kurt’s hands slid to his shoulders and suddenly spun him around.

“Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.”

Blaine saw Kurt leaning forward, and closed his eyes at the same time as he felt the lightest brush of Kurt’s lips against his own. As quickly as they had come they were gone again, and Blaine found himself staring at Kurt, still only inches apart with Kurt’s hands still on his shoulders.

“I--” Kurt breathed, and Blaine tasted cinnamon and coffee in the air of his exhale and couldn’t do anything else. He pressed himself forward again, putting his hands on either side of Kurt’s face and holding on to him as though doing so were more important than air. He felt Kurt’s hands rise to clasp his face as their lips met, and then he was pressing and pulling, sliding and sucking, and on some primal level knowing that this was the most perfect kiss to ever be.

It wasn’t dirty, not even a little. It wasn’t harsh, or hungry, or any of the things that are so often said about the most fervent of kisses. But it was undeniably intense, and Blaine felt fireworks in his head and tingles in his fingers and was pretty sure that he couldn’t feel his feet at all anymore.

He didn’t know how long they kissed. It was so much more than anything he had expected and yet definitely not enough to satisfy him, but eventually they pulled apart, leaning their foreheads together as they panted and tried to catch their breath.

Kurt’s hands slid back down to Blaine’s shoulders. “I, um…”

“I’m sorry,” Blaine blurted, pulling his hands away. “I shouldn’t have, I mean it’s not ver--” but he had to stop because Kurt’s mouth was on his again; pressing harder and a little bit desperate this time. Blaine felt the tentative swipe of a tongue along his lip and eagerly opened for it, pulling Kurt in without hesitation.

* * *

 

Kurt had definitely not planned to kiss Blaine again. Not like that. He’d purposefully kept the first kiss very light and very brief specifically so that he wouldn’t accidentally give into his impulses and make Blaine uncomfortable. But then Blaine had kissed him back and it had been so…

Surely nobody could blame Kurt if he’d used his mouth to stop Blaine from apologizing for the best thing that he’d done all day?

This time when they separated Kurt just stood there with his eyes closed, reeling slightly and letting the wonder of it settle into his bones for a time before he forced himself to open his eyes and face reality again. When he finally did, all he saw were Blaine’s soft, golden eyes watching him intently.

“It’s you.”

“It’s me what?” Kurt was confused.

“It’s still your line,” Blaine clarified, and how on earth could he remember that at a moment like this?

“Oh, right,” Kurt paused a moment, going over the lines in his head before finding the right one. “Uh, the, oh, thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.”

“Then have my lips the sin that they have took,” Blaine murmured softly, obviously staring at Kurt’s mouth as he cupped his hand to Kurt’s cheek and grazed a thumb across his lower lip.

Kurt’s breath stuttered as he dropped his head back, facing the ceiling as his eyes closed. “Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again!”

And then Blaine’s hands were on his face pulled him back down, and Blaine’s lips were working their way up his neck as Blaine’s fingers splayed across his neck and began sneaking into his hair.

Blaine’s hands, Blaine’s lips, Blaine’s fingers and breath and tongue and... Everything in that moment was nothing but Blaine.

And Kurt just held on and let his gut fall through the floor as his body floated away, because in this moment nothing was as important or good as kissing Blaine.

* * *

 

Eventually Blaine cleared his throat and sat back on the couch. That was not really how rehearsals were supposed to go.

“I, uh,” Kurt had settled himself on the far edge of the couch and was rubbing his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. “So, we should tone that down a bit for the actual performance I think…”

“Yeah, I, yes.” Blaine nodded, not daring to actually look at Kurt.

“I didn’t mind,” Kurt added softly. “I mean, obviously…”

“But we should practice the scene...”

Kurt reached out and grabbed his hand, and Blaine looked over at him. Kurt’s expression was an intriguing blend of a smirk and a grin.

“I thought we were.”

* * *

 

Kurt knew perfectly well that they would not perform it this way, but after the third time through they had given up on including the lines from the script and were just plain making out.

“We shouldn’t,” Blaine whispered into Kurt’s lips at one point as they pushed and pulled and sank into the couch. “It’s not…” And then Kurt swallowed the words, taking Blaine’s mouth with his own and pushing his shoulders back onto the couch and settling himself on top of him.

There was not room on the couch for them to move very much, but move they did anyway; shifting together until they no longer noticed who was on top or beside or even that they were on a couch.

Kurt scraped his teeth across Blaine’s lip and licked into his mouth while Blaine moaned and bucked beneath him. Hands roamed down backs and beyond belts while tongues became acquainted with ears and necks and collarbones.

At one point Kurt opened his eyes for a moment to look at the man who was so intently kissing and nipping along his neck, and saw furrowed brows above intensely squeezed eyes. Kurt’s eyes snapped shut again as he gently kissed Blaine’s eyelids, and met the resulting gasp by licking along the shell of Blaine’s ear before sucking the lobe into his mouth.

This was still not how rehearsals were supposed to go; but it was so much better.

* * *

 

Two and a half hours after arriving, Kurt had groggily announced that he needed to be on his way home. Blaine didn’t want him to go, but he couldn’t come up with a good reason to ask him to stay, so he didn’t try. Kurt had his bag on his shoulder and his hand on the door handle when he stopped and turned around.

“Kiss me,” Kurt’s voice was soft and Blaine wasn’t sure if he’d heard him right.

“What?”

Kurt repeated himself, barely louder than before. “Will you kiss me, Blaine?”

“Uh, we’ve been kissing all evening.”

“No, our characters have been kissing all evening. I’m asking you for a kiss, now, as us. No pretenses.” He cleared his throat, licked his lips, and in a hoarse whisper added “please?”

“Kurt…” Blaine didn’t have time to think--wasn’t willing to take the time to think. Not now. Not when he was actually getting what he wanted, without having to wonder if it was just because of the assignment. He stepped in close, sliding one hand up Kurt’s arm as the other slipped around his waist. Kurt’s lips were still red and slightly swollen from all of their ‘practicing,’ and Blaine had never wanted anything so much.

Kurt’s bag hit the floor as his arms floated to Blaine’s shoulders, pulling him closer and then wrapping around him, fingers splayed across the back of his neck and head as though desperate to keep him there.

When they separated this time it was less breathless but more heady.

“Blaine--”

“Kurt--”

They spoke at the same time.

Blaine dipped his head and Kurt blushed.

“You first,” Blaine’s prep school manners insisted automatically.

“So,” Kurt shuffled his feet a little, and a small smile broke across his lips as he stared at his shoes before looking up at Blaine. “At the risk of being presumptuous, can I take you to dinner on Friday?”

“As long as I can take you dancing on Saturday.”

“Done!” Kurt wobbled sideways for a moment, leaving the briefest whisper of a kiss on Blaine’s cheek before he literally danced out the door.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My beta already asked for me to write a little encore scene of them actually performing in front of the class. She's doing a graphic for it, so it'll happen. Soonish. :)


	2. Encore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My beta is lovely. Also a little pushy. Here is the note she put at the final line of the original story.  
>    
>  **_WAIT WHAT NO_**  
>    
>  **_Noo I was looking forward to them doing it in front of class. :'D You TEASE_**  
>    
>  **_I demand a bonus cut to the mixed reactions of everyone in that class!! From Rachel's jealousy at having been upstaged to all the straight dudes questioning their sexuality. :D_**  
>    
>  Well, she IS a really good beta. (And she agreed to make me a photo manip of them in class, so I agreed to write her an encore.) [Alwaysfallingforanidea](http://alwaysfallingforanidea.tumblr.com/), this is for you. (And thanks for the pic!) :)

Kurt and Blaine had had two weeks to work on their assignment. They had spent one day introducing themselves to one another, one day choosing a scene, three days learning lines, and nine days making out.

More or less.

By the time performance day rolled around they had been officially dating for five days, and had figured out how to kiss each other without completely losing track of the mortal world. In other words, they had perfected their scene.

 

* * *

Rachel Berry was born for competition.

One morning over breakfast, when they were midway through the project, she presented her roommate with an idea. “You know, Kurt, we haven’t had a good diva-off in a while. How about we make a contest of this scene assignment? Whichever one of us gets the better grade on it will buy dinner for the other one.”

“No,” he sing-songed, humming merrily to himself as he sipped his coffee by the stove.

“Why, scared to lose?” she teased.

“Nope.” He flashed her a grin and turned his attention back to the egg he was flipping.

“This isn’t singing, Kurt. You can’t just blow people away with your stunning range and emotional vulnerability.”

He didn’t even look at her.

“I’m serious, Kurt. We know we are both amazing singers, but this is straight acting. Neither of us has as much practice with it as we do with music. We should challenge ourselves in this arena too.”

“Don’t bother, Rachel.” He looked distracted and clearly wasn’t interested.

“Why?!” she was upset now. “You’re awfully cocky, Kurt. Put down that stupid egg and look at me! I have more acting experience than you do, and I’ll have you know that I have amazing chemistry with my scene partner. We are going to impress everyone.”

“Uh-huh, I’m sure you will,” he nodded, and brought his plated egg to the table.

“Your scene partner is very cute, but looks aren’t everything, and I’m beginning to think that you haven’t taken this assignment seriously, Kurt! NYADA is a prestigious school and--”

_ “ Rachel! _ _”_ he practically shouted. “Rachel, fine, we can make it a contest. Whatever! I don’t care!”

“Well it’s not any fun if you’re not even going to try,” she pouted.

“Oh it’s not that,” he explained nonchalantly around a bite of egg. Rachel squinted at him as he continued. “I just didn’t want to embarrass you in front of everyone.”

“What?”

“Again.” He smirked.

Rachel slammed the door as she made her diva exit.

 

* * *

Rachel probably should have guessed that something was afoot with Kurt, but she was busy with her own assignments and trying to convince Brody to take her out, so she didn’t notice. She didn’t notice her own habit of hollering “Kurt! I’m home!” before actually opening the door. She didn’t notice the fact that Blaine’s shirt was untucked and Kurt’s face was a little red when she passed them in the living room moments later. She didn’t notice that Kurt was smiling to himself more often or ‘studying’ away from home more than he ever had before. She didn’t notice that he went out two nights in a row, or that he got home late. Rachel Berry had better things to do than pay attention to the little details of her roommate’s life.

Rachel did notice that Brody did not pick up on any of her flirting, and she noticed that he did not ask her to hang out outside of rehearsal. He was a perfectly professional scene partner who learned his lines perfectly and kissed her in ways that were artistically correct and exquisitely boring. 

 

* * *

“Are you ready,” she whispered to Kurt, who was sitting next to her on performance day.

“Yep.” He threw a grin to Blaine who was sitting on his other side. “We’ve got it down. And you’re going to lose, Rachel Berry.”

“What?” Blaine leaned his head forward, into the conversation. “Lose? Who’s losing?”

“Rachel made me bet with her that her scene would be better than ours.”

Blaine’s guffaw was somehow polite (Kurt would have snorted, Rachel was sure).

“Do you doubt me?” Rachel asked, slightly affronted.

“What does the winner get?” Blaine asked.

“Treating the other to dinner,” Rachel informed him primly.

“Hmmm, can I get in on this?” Blaine raised an eyebrow at Kurt, who rolled his eyes at the ceiling and threw his hands up in an expression of defeat.

“What are you thinking?” Rachel asked.

“Double or nothing,” Blaine offered. “Since it’s a team project, after all.”

Rachel raised her eyebrows at him.

“If we win, you take us both out to dinner. If you win, we’ll take you and your partner out.”

“Deal!” Rachel thrust her hand at Blaine without hesitation. 

Their hands grasped inches from Kurt’s lap, and he looked back and forth between them in exasperation for a moment before pulling their hands apart. “Ok, ok, that’s enough of that. Oh look, there’s Mr. Peterson, it’s time for class to start!”

Rachel shot Blaine a parting look that she hoped showed how confident she was of her win. He just grinned at her. 

Poor little mouse; he had no idea what he was up against.

 

* * *

“Alright,” Mr Peterson announced. “I’ve put each scene pair on these slips of paper, and I’m going to draw you out in random order, and that is the order you will perform.” He dropped a handful of scraps of paper into an actual top hat, and shook it around for a moment.

“Amanda and Alex, you’re up first.”

And with that the kissing scenes began. Rachel watched them with some interest, but mostly she was just impatiently waiting for her own turn to show them all up. 

One couple had angled their heads in such a way that nobody could even see the kiss. Awkward! They would lose points on that for sure. 

One couple had adapted a scene from a movie. Oooooh, no, gotta pay attention to the instructions folks! Fail!

Rachel sat complacently in her seat, dutifully applauding each couple as they finished their scenes. Several were technically proficient, but no one made her feel hot and bothered in the least. She had this one in the bag. 

“Rachel and Brody!”

She gave Kurt a smug smile as she got up and met Brody in the open area in front. She closed her eyes for a moment to center herself, then risked a glance back to Kurt and his scene partner. They were expressionless and attentive. She had expected as much: they wouldn’t let her see their fear any more than she would let them see hers. If she had any. But she didn’t of course.

Rachel and Brody’s scene was flawless. They moved around each other smoothly, spoke the lines with natural inflections, and at the end their lips came together with grace and finesse. Everyone applauded enthusiastically.

“Thank you,” Professor Peterson said. “It’s nice to see someone who takes their assignments seriously. You should all make every effort to be working at this kind of level, even as freshmen,” he declared to the students. He reached into the hat again. “And our last scene of the day will be presented by Blaine and Kurt.” He looked over to where they were getting to their feet. “That’s a tough act to follow gentlemen. I hope you’re up for the challenge.”

Rachel tried very hard to maintain a neutral expression as she returned to her seat. Well, she tried a little bit anyway. She didn’t want to rub it in Kurt’s face that she had beat him. 

She didn’t want to rub it in his face  _ too much _ at least. 

Yet.

Both men stood at the center of the stage area. 

“Hi, I’m Kurt…”

“...and I’m Blaine.”

“And we will be performing a scene from William Shakespeare’s  _ Romeo and Juliet _ .”

For a tiny moment Rachel almost felt sorry for Kurt. He didn’t stand a chance. Picking something as cliche as  _ Romeo and Juliet _ ? What had he been thinking?

Blaine stayed at center stage, facing off toward the left. Kurt moved off to the right side of the stage and waited. Blaine glanced back over his shoulder at Kurt, who nodded at him briefly.

_ They planned their outfits, _ Rachel realized.  _ Of course Kurt did that. Why didn’t I think of that. _ Well, it didn’t matter how good they looked. They still had to pull off the scene. Superficial details are worthless if the meat of the scene isn’t good, and yep, they were doing  _ that _ scene. The second-most overdone scene of the whole show (after the balcony scene of course).  _ Not a good call, Kurt _ _,_ she shook her head. Nobody listens to familiar lines. They just tune them out, just like everyone was going to…

Rachel happened to glance off to the side and noticed that the rest of the students were watching Kurt and Blaine intently. Had she missed something? Rachel turned back to them. 

The two men were standing face to face, their hands touching between them in the most innocent and cliche of ways, but their eye-contact was so intense that Rachel had to catch her breath. 

“...move not, while my prayer’s effect I take,” Kurt said, bringing his hands to Blaine’s face and moving in to kiss him.

Some of the other duos in the class had engaged in some fairly prolonged and heavy kissing, with open mouths and sighs and moans, but Kurt and Blaine did none of this. Their closed lips pressed together for barely a second before they pulled back again, hands still on each other’s cheeks and eyes trained intently on each other’s faces as they continued the dialogue. Rachel didn’t hear any of it, she was too distracted trying to figure out how they could use a cliche script with a middle-school kiss and  _ still _ be the hottest pair of the day. It wasn’t fair!!

“Give me my sin again!” Kurt proclaimed, his hand moving casually along Blaine’s back as he pulled him closer. One of Blaine’s hands already rested on Kurt’s arm, and as their faces met he slid the other ever so gently onto Kurt’s waist.

[ ](http://de.tinypic.com?ref=2gsfl8i)

This kiss was not long either--perhaps two seconds this time--and they kept it as chaste as the first: simply pressing smoothly into each other without any extraneous motion. Their eyes were closed, so it wasn’t even the eye contact now, there was just something so…

A shiver ran down Rachel’s spine and left tingles exploding across her back like fireworks. What was it about them, she wondered. Simple script, simple movements, really really simple kisses, but yet...

“ _ Damn _ ,” Brody whispered under his breath next to her ear. “I’ve seen guys kiss before, but this is the first time it’s made me actually want to get involved…”

Rachel sighed. She owed them dinner for two, obviously. She cleared her throat and turned to Brody as everyone applauded. “This has been extremely educational actually,” she informed him.

“How do you mean?” Brody asked.

“I definitely need to practice kissing with a gay guy.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m certain that Rachel followed this up with some strong feelings about having laughed at Kurt when he tried to kiss her during West Side Story auditions...embarrassment over how she’d treated him, and regret for having passed up what might have been the best kiss of her life.


End file.
